Alfred Quiroz: new work at Davis Dominguez Gallery (April 20 - May 21, 2011)

close up of "La Raza Cozmika"

For the next month, from April 20 - May 21 (2011), Alfred Quiroz shares an exhibit with the recently deceased Luis Jimenez.  This review focuses on Quiroz' work; I'll revisit Jimenez's work in this show at another time.

In this exhibit, Quiroz has four portfolios of work: three more additions to his "American Presidents" series, some large "milagros" that were installation art at the Mexico/Arizona Border fence, Drawings about his experience as a professor at the UA Art Department, and finally, a few cartoons of Jesus and a veiled Muslim sharing a joke.

Right away, when surveying this work, you can see that Quiroz has no time for the advice to avoid talking about religion or politics, lest you offend somebody. Quiroz's work is designed to provoke and offend. In fact, some of his most powerful work has a pornographic quality to it; it just seems too hot to handle; forbidden.  Just by being in the presence of one of his history paintings, just by paying attention to his art, it feels that you're somehow implicated in some sort of  conspiracy.

He draws you into his paintings with a rich sense of color, huge scale, a "Looney Toons" drawing style, and the painting skills of Thomas Benton Hart (Harry Truman's favorite painter), but his subject matter is all about the sweep and tragedy of Colonial history.  His paintings are very well researched. He packs a lot of historical images into his work, and to fully appreciate the references he's making with his imagery,  you might need to do some background reading. His artwork presupposes that the audience is literate in history. (A reading list, or a bibliography might help!)

What you first see when you walk into the gallery are Quiroz's very large "milagros", or lucky charms, often used for healing.  But these aren't small charms that you wear as jewelry. No, these were large works made of brushed aluminum that were mounted on the Mexico side of the Arizona-Mexico border fence, for several years, as a public art project. Each piece is roughly the size on an arm-span.

"La Razon de Corazon" border fence milagro

All six of these milagros cover the entire south wall of the Davis-Dominquez gallery.  The titles are "La Lengue de Coyote" (which is the image of an angry-looking wolf); "Corriendo Recio" (image of a disembodied leg); "Brazo de Trabajo" (image of an arm holding a hoe); "Te Miro" (looks like a mardi gras mask), and "Mano por Centavo" (which shows an outstretched palm with a "cent" sign stamped into it).  Once you understand what you're looking at (border fence milagros) , you can Quiroz's approach to art is not simple to amuse, beautify, or entertain the work, to rather, to agitate it. I'm trying to imagine what it would be like for a Mexican family to arrive at the Arizona-Mexico border fence, to be greeted by these giant milagros. Quiroz isn't an artist who stays cloistered away in the studio or within academia (more work on that later in this article); rather, he gets out in the real world, and installs work that directly confronts the public.

(Prof. Quiroz clarifies via email: "La Lengua del Coyote" is a "coyote" with a forked tongue, a "coyote" being the individual  that crosses illegals across the border. The "mask"piece is an actual milagro image that I copied except I made the pupils larger as a way of saying "I saw you" in regard to the video surveillance on the border. The piece was photographed in the May 2007 Nat. Geographic Mag. The "Corriendo Recio" piece means "running fast" i.e. escaping across the border.")

 As you round the corner in the gallery, facing East, you're then confronted with three of Quiroz' latest history paintings in his "American Presidents" series. The biggest and most intricate ("The Mendacious Maniacal Magician") chronicles the presidency of George Bush and the War in Irag. This piece is so hot, that I really feel uncomfortable describing it (that's the "porn" quality I was referring to earlier). But I'll just say that the painting is large: about 6 ft high x 3 ft across, and it is acrylic painted on wood, cut out in the shape of a mushroom cloud. The composition quotes El Greco (??), placing "angels" (with bat wings) in the sky (with the faces of the Neo Cons), while George Bush is painted as a sorcerer.  Corporate logos of war contractors decorate the floor space of this picture, while American flags, and "yellow ribbon" icons decorate the background. There are many visual references to puns and nicknames.

(Prof. Quiroz clarifies via email: "The Bush piece is actually 49" across and it is oil on canvas and panel. The arrangement of the "cherubs" are from a Titian painting.")

This work falls into the tradition of history painting; The history painting is actually a very well-respected genre in art. Wikipedia writes this about the genre of history painting:  

"The history painting was traditionally regarded as the highest form of Western painting, occupying the most prestigious place in the hierarchy of genres, and considered the equivalent to the epic in literature"  


...However, Quiroz' use of cartoons, taboo subjects, and satire, place it more within the realm of underground comix (e.g. "Zap" or "Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers"); history painting rendered in the style of the underground comix of the 1960's.

Next to this piece, are two presidential portraits: one of George Washington as a black man (an obvious homage to Gilbert Stuart's classic painting of Washington), and the other of President Obama as a blonde-haired white man.  Personally, I find Quiroz's humor in this pair of portraits superb.

"George Washington"

"F Ulna I Wuz White"

The largest piece in this show, and the most sweeping in historical scope, is titled "La Raza Kozmika", which is mounted on the North wall of the gallery, and measures roughly 8 ft long x 4 ft high.

"La Raza Kozmika"

The composition of this piece is the design of a dollar bill. The character in the portrait section of the bill looks like a mix between the Spanish Conquistador (on the left-of-center side of the picture), and the African slave (on the right-of-center side of the picture). The figure in the center is black-by-a-half result of the union of these two cultures, looking like one of the characters from the old "Fat Albert" cartoon of yesteryear, and wearing a "Mr. Monopoly" hat (from the board game "Monopoly"). On each flank of this painting are images of Africans being killed by Europeans. On the left flank, there is a painting of a black woman, clutching a crucifix, while hanging by a noose affixed a to a cross. Underneath her, is a ribbon of text that says "Mexico 1554", while on the right, we see a black man in overalls hanging from a tree; a ribbon underneath his feet includes the text: "Florida 1938"; an Aztec woman at the bottom of the picture holds what looks like a corazon milagro in each hand, as if to suggest some sort of mystical continuity with the with the killing of Africans by Europeans, as the Europeans conquered the New World.

(Prof. Quiroz claifies via email:  "Raza Kozmika  depicts an image from the Codex Telleriano Remensis of the lynching of the leader of the slave rebellion in 1534 Mexico City. There was a tremendous earthquake and a comet was also in the sky on that day. it is not a female. The Aztecs and the African slaves had joined forces to oust the Spaniards, unfortuneately they did not have muskets. The central figure is Memin Pequin, a well known Mexican  African comic book character. In 2005 Mexico issued postage stamps to commemorate him. I copied his image with top hat, only I anglo-sized him. The Aztec woman offers her hearts to either the slave or the Spaniard. The piece is slightly over 5 ft. tall.")

Some of my favorite work in this show are Quiroz's smaller drawings about academic life at the University of Arizona. There are four framed pieces which are his notes from monthly faculty meetings. Quiroz's notes at these meetings are comic strip doodles....now framed and available for sale! Personally, I think that these are a bargain at $200 each (framed!)

Alfred Quiroz's faculty meeting notes: comix!

Another standout for me (in what I'll call Quiroz's "Office Politics" series) is his drawing of new Art Faculty members (portrayed as fascists) in a piece called " Projected SOA Faculty Uniforms.".

" Projected SOA Faculty Uniforms." by Alfred Quiroz (pencil & watercolor)

This piece just drips with bile.  The characters are identified as "Faculty, Fred", "Assistant Prof, Art Theorist", and "Assistant Prof, 2D Studies".  On the left of the picture are designs for faculty arm bands. Throughout this piece, are arrows pointing out salient details of the wardrobe of the New Order in the art department.  Judging from the content of the "office politics" work here, one gets the impression that life in the Art Department is fraught with just as much politics, intrigue, and conspiracy as areQuiroz's historical tableaus.

One thing that stands out after viewing this show is that Alfred Quiroz is a passionate educator. Years ago, when I was one of his painting students, he told the class that "your work has to be about something. You've got to be working on some kind of edge". There are many edges in this exhibit.

Check out this show! You'll be impressed by his painting technique, and by the physical construction of his paintings. You'll be provoked and maybe even pissed off by his political provocation. You'll be confused and amazed at his willingness to gore sacred cows. You'll confront some modern-day history paintings, maybe for the first time in your life. But you'll also realize that you've got an old-school painter in town with balls of steel (or is that abraided aluminum?) who's still willing to stand up and fight for his art. This is gutsy stuff. Going a Quiroz exhibit is what I imagine going to going to a bullfight is like: there's an underlying level of danger that lingers around this stuff.

Looking for hardcore attitude in artwork today? Looking for art that's about something? Looking for art that is brave? That will challenge you? That will irk you? That is done with skill that grows out a painterly tradition in art history? You've come to the right place.  Welcome to a master of the art of painted political broadside.